


Powers of Observation

by natcat5



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Multi, Observation and introspection, Pack Dynamics, Pack Family, Polyamory, Stilinski Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-03-14
Packaged: 2018-01-15 15:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1310359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natcat5/pseuds/natcat5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Sheriff, it's his responsibility to keep a close eye on everything. Especially his son. </p><p>Wolves in sheep's clothing are always hard to spot. </p><p>But Stiles is human, and his father has always known how to read him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Powers of Observation

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so angry about this. I can't believe this. I can't believe I wrote Teen Wolf fanfiction. I canNOT beLIEVE.

Powers of observation are a key tool for anyone who wishes to be a productive member of society. As Sheriff, his eyes need to be keen in order to protect and to serve. In order to catch crooks, catch criminals, and catch threats before they flare up into something worse.

Before that, and in addition to that, his gaze needs to be sharp in order to pick up on the moods of his son. Stiles, who talks a lot but says little. Who communicates the pain that losing his mother causes him through desperate, panicked gasps. Who finds it easiest to tell his father _don’t ever leave me_ by constantly harassing him about his dietary choices and coercing the manager of the only McDonald’s in town to bar him from entry. Stiles, who talks in circles and hexagons and is only straightforward when he’s past his breaking point.

But the Sheriff has a sharp eye for that now. He can read between the lines and dig through the piles of sarcasm. Can watch the way his son’s jaw tightens or the way his voice drops to a low, raspy note. The way his eyes go from honey brown to the colour of bark in winter, lines and wrinkles and shadows surrounding them.

This is how he reads Stiles. This is how he observes his son and learns how to act accordingly.

That said, it’s a bit shameful, how long it takes him to pick up on the changes.

To be fair, the changes start just when the town and the sheriff’s department are winding down after another series of murders and sightings of mysterious animals darting across the road at night. They start when the Sheriff is still trying to figure out what paralyzed a dozen kids in a gay club and who drowned Matt Daehler. They start when Stiles _finally_ calms down from whatever demons of mischief possessed him over the last few weeks, and goes back to his version of ‘normal’. Which involves appearing at crime scenes with slightly less frequency and _not_ kidnapping classmates.

Stiles stops breaking the law and the Sheriff thinks it’s safe to shift his gaze from his son, just for a moment. To try and solve the mysteries that have been plaguing the town ever since half a girl’s body showed up in the woods and her disconcerting brother started lurking in the treeline.

Maybe he notices the way Stiles is less twitchy and more wary, prone to observing an area carefully with his eyes before moving into it, as if checking for enemies and escape routes. Maybe he notices the way two out of five times, instead of flailing his arms and screeching, Stiles’s reaction to being startled is to straighten his back and flare his nostrils, eyes narrowing and hands up in defence.

But it’s understandable, the Sheriff thinks, after being stuck in the station when Matt Daehler was there, after he had killed all those deputies and cops. It’s understandable for Stiles to be on edge, to be wary. He knows they should talk about it, but he also knows there’s been a blockage in their relationship lately, something stopping Stiles from confiding in him, something he’s keeping secret. It’s hard to approach his son, and he resolves to have a long, _thorough_ chat with him once this case is soundly buried.

Over the summer however, Stiles seems to relax. Seems to find peace in the town going back to its previous state of mundaneness and calm. His limbs start to flail again, his lengthy scans for danger become blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fast, and he stops lying. Or at least, he stops lying about things that are _important._

He lazes around the house and drives around in his jeep and visits Scott on the rare occasions his friend isn’t in Summer school. He also spends a lot of time at the library, and the Sheriff tries not to be alarmed at the fact that his son’s room is frequently covered in books on magic and fairytales without explanation. It’s weird, but it’s not a cause for any real worry.

The only _real_ prickle of doubt occurs when he sees his son walking with Scott. Because they’ve been best friends for _years_ and haven’t changed. Stiles walked like he did everything else; full of jitters and with his hands going all over the place as his mouth ran a mile a minute. And Scott walked with a hunch in his back and a way of hanging his head that spoke volumes of his self-esteem. He shuffled his feet and gave soft smiles and used as little energy and air as possible to avoid upsetting his fickle lungs.

But now.

Now it’s different.

Now Scott walks with his head up and his shoulders square and his body thrumming with confidence and _strength._ His strides are purposeful and powerful but _silent._ Scott walks like a predator, like a hunter. And the Sheriff is more than a little unsettled by the way Scott’s dopey smiles sometimes give way to sharp grins that remind him of a dog baring its teeth.

And Stiles, Stiles seems to have picked up some of that. Because he walks straighter than he used to. Straighter, and with a purposeful stride similar to Scott’s. There are less unnecessary movements. Less sweeping hand gestures, less little spasms and jumps. Everything is more controlled. Toned down.

His voice is quieter when he talks, and he and Scott’s heads usually bend towards each other, as if they don’t want anyone else to hear what they’re saying.

The Sheriff tells himself not to worry about it, however. They’re growing up, and changes are bound to occur. And honestly? He should be proud of Scott for becoming more confident, for overcoming his asthma. He should be happy that Stiles is learning how to keep his voice down, how to be calm.

He looks at Stiles over his coffee the week before school starts, and is unable to shake the feeling that he’s missing something _important,_ and that there’s something different about his son that he can’t let go ignored for any longer.

The start of the school year throws a wrench in those plans however, because suddenly there are animals committing suicide en masse and Stiles’s childhood friend is murdered shortly after. And then two other murders occur and by the time the fourth brings a cross-country run screeching to a halt the Sheriff is resigned to the fact that the talk is indefinitely postponed.

But he doesn’t miss the change this time, even though it’s less obvious. Because Stiles is all high energy as he runs around where he’s not supposed to and says the wrong things at the wrong times to the wrong people and it’s all very _Stiles_ but also very _not._

Because the wariness is back, and his shoulders are always stiff and his posture makes the Sheriff think he’s prepared to break away into a sprint at the slightest provocation. And his eyes are dark and narrowed with focus and- it’s weird, it’s ridiculous, but the Sheriff could _swear_ he saw Stiles _snarl_ at someone. Saw his lip curl back and his teeth flash with a huff of air that sounded suspiciously like a _growl_.

But then he was back to ranting sarcastically and waving his arms around the Sheriff was sure he had imagined it.

(he hadn’t).

It doesn’t happen again, not in front of him at least, and he’s too caught up in unexplainable murders with no leads to give something so strange another thought. Everything moves frighteningly fast, and by the time he learns (accepts) the truth about werewolves, that one particular incident is gone from his mind.

Because he likes it when things start making sense. When he understands that Stiles has grown up faster than he would have otherwise because his life has been in danger constantly over the past year. When he understands that Scott changed and Stiles followed him, the way Scott followed Stiles around when they were children. He understands the lying, and the books on fairytales, and everything makes sense. Scott’s a werewolf, as are numerous others, and Stiles is involved with them.

But he’s still human. Stiles, Stiles is human. And that’s important, because it’s easy for the Sheriff to reassure himself about his son, convince himself he still _knows_ his son, when Stiles hasn’t changed. Not the way Scott changed.

Stiles is not a wolf.

The Darach and the Alpha Pack are gone, and things can return to something like _normal._ Stiles has that option, technically. He’s not as tightly tied to the supernatural as the others. _Stiles is not a wolf._ And that makes all the difference.

(he’s reading over reports in the kitchen and Stiles and Scott are on the sofa in the living room. he doesn’t see Scott run his fingers up and down Stiles’s arms and huff onto his neck to make sure he smells like Scott and pack and wolf. and he doesn’t see Stiles snort with laughter and lean over to tug on Scott’s ear with his teeth, a sound like a playful growl bubbling up from his throat).

(when he goes to the school for a parent-teacher conference he doesn’t see the way Stiles’s shoulders hunch when he sees Ethan approaching Danny. doesn’t see the way Stiles curls back his lips and snaps his teeth at the former Alpha before Scott steers him away).

(and there’s more he doesn’t see. more he doesn’t know).

(he doesn’t know that Lydia Martin can howl as well as scream. he doesn’t know that she keeps her nails long so they can double as claws in a pinch and he doesn’t know that the last time Aiden came onto her she dug her fingers into the side of his face until he showed her his throat in submission).

(he doesn’t know that Allison Argent fights to keep her anger cold. doesn’t know that when her anger turns hot she bares her teeth and _growls._ doesn’t know that she walks more like a predator than Scott ever has and doesn’t know that, when they’re with the pack, Lydia kisses her cheeks and Kira kisses her nose and Derek tentatively touches his forehead to her chin and Stiles kisses the corners of her mouth and Isaac kisses her cheeks and nose and chin and lips and Scott smiles because when no one was paying attention she became the Alpha female).

(he doesn’t know sleepovers at Scott’s house involve six people, sometimes seven. he doesn’t know that Stiles curls up with Lydia’s head on his stomach, his head on Scott’s chest, Allison on Scott’s other side with Isaac curled up half on top of Scott’s legs between them, and Kira curled up at the top, Scott’s head on her stomach. he doesn’t know that sometimes Derek Hale will come, and keep his distance until Isaac or Stiles tugs him down and he ends up curled up against someone’s back).

(nothing is straight-forward anymore)

(nothing is simple).

The Sheriff thanks God everyday that he doesn’t have to worry about the things that Melissa McCall has to. Doesn’t have to worry about packs and Alphas and hierarchy and rules and all that other wolfy madness. If Deaton’s anything to go by, humans affiliated with werewolves can remain pretty distant, and he’s confident that now that the crap with the Alpha Pack and the Darach is over, he can convince Stiles to tone down his involvement.

(wolves in sheep’s clothing have always been hard to spot).

And if sometimes those powers of observation kick in again, if the Sheriff takes a moment to really _look_ at his son and realizes he doesn’t recognize who he sees at _all…_

He’s overreacting. Because he got _lucky_. Stiles hasn’t changed. Stiles is the same. Stiles didn’t get _bitten._

(werewolves are easy to find. it’s the human wolves that are tricky).

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by two things. One: everyone using 'wolf in sheep's clothing' to describe the werewolves. Which always confused me. Because werewolves always seem to exude a threatening air even when not wolfed out. I thought it applied much better to the humans in the pack. 
> 
> Two: This gifset. I just imagined Stiles and Allison starting to do stuff like that and...yeah. http://natcat5.tumblr.com/post/79492507533/prettiestcaptain-so-you-know-this-little-snarl
> 
> oh, and the part with Allison was a reference to the way wolves will lickk the muzzle, lips, nose, etc. of a superior wolf in the pack.


End file.
